The Councilwoman nodded slightly as the witch spoke. Even at her age, she is under no delusion that she knows it all, and people like Hugh Stewart are certainly the sort of cerebral individuals from which that the lamia found herself interested in learning from: competent, clever, and acutely aware of the situations around him. Eleonor thought of him, without a doubt, as the most valuable ally within the Council to get things done. “I agree. There is more behind this than simple arson. I’m sure their actions have earned them charges for more than a single felony” she mentioned as Hugh handed over the drafts, since she hadn’t forgotten about the deaths caused by those that started the fires. She began to read through them, absentmindedly nodding, very much in agreement with the notion of punishing any perpetrator of such crimes more harshly. “Aren’t there ways to speed up the process? Say, if a Council vote were to take place”. The lamia was convinced that Yasemin, Lily and Seiha would side with the proposal, either by conviction to better the town’s current situation or due to mere dislike of Maksim and Delilah. Being a minority in such a vote, the werewolf and the vampire would have no choice but to yield to democracy.
Hugh’s admission that he was done playing by the rules piqued her interest and she regarded him with a hint of curiosity. She had never been a stranger that rules sometimes became shackles, and it seemed this was the case the Council had found itself in while attempting to maintain grace against individuals like Maksim and Delilah, both conniving and threatening in their own particular ways. “Sounds more efficient than what our dear Delilah suggested” the lamia said, appreciating the finesse of having a group of skilled people apprehend the criminals wreaking havoc in Lethe in a stealthier fashion, rather than use the townspeople as a goddamn bait during Delilah’s precious gala… “So this group of… expert contractors- how exactly would they operate?” the Councilwoman asked, leaning forward and lacing her fingers together over the desk. Eleonor would be lying if she said she wasn’t even a little bit interested in learning what else Hugh was planning in regards to Maksim, but accepted to kept in the dark. At least for now.
“Exactly. The reason why they choose to commit a crime should matter in the system.” At least in several states in the US, the criminal law not only punishes illegal acts but also malicious intents. That is why murder charges come with heavier sentences than manslaughter. On the other side of the examples would be self-defense or any other justification. Of course, the purposes of the said punishment can defer depending on which school of thoughts you follow. Hugh’s perspective is closer to deterrence or retribution than rehabilitation. “If we can secure votes from other Council Members, sure, but even if it passes the vote as fast as it can, it will till take time to agree on content, definitions and other details of each article... and that’s the part we can’t exactly brush aside.” He sighs, rubbing his temples as another wave of migraine washes over him. It would make his life so easy if everyone could just follow his directions... or make them follow by force if necessary. It takes a moment or two before he realizes how violent that his own thought was.
Hugh finds himself laughing at the mention of Delilah, as he laughed in the vampire’s face when she suggested her little plan during the Council meeting. He may be one of the younger Members, but at least he likes to think that he has this little thing called ‘common sense’. “I’d have to resign if my ideas were worse than hers. I swear, sometimes I feel like that woman wants disasters to happen.” He shakes his head with the trademark sneer. He has more to say about Delilah’s antics... but that is for another time. “That’s the beauty of it. They are free to operate in their preferred way as long as they abide by terms of the contract-- magical contract, of course. The terms would include, they cannot kill the arsonists or anyone in Lethe, should avoid any unnecessary property damage, etc.” The contracts with the Sokolovs were excellent experiments for this program. “They’d have designated handlers-- Council members, mostly-- and get compensated for bringing in arsonists or any valuable information on them.”
